When England returned defiantly to India in the wake of the Mumbai atrocities, few imagined they might have the capacity to overturn an India side who a few weeks ago sent Australia packing. But there is a distinct possibility they might do just that. To turn up is one thing, to provide a turn-up would be quite another.

The catalyst for England's jubilant dismantling of India's top order was Graeme Swann. A swan song properly occurs at the end of a Test career but Swann, a great extrovert and not a man to be restrained by tradition, chose to have his at the start. One over into his Test career he had the wickets of Gautam Gambhir and Rahul Dravid. It does not get much better than that.

The swan song, in any case, is a bit of a myth. Tradition has it the mute swan is silent until just before its death, when it bursts into song, but it does make noises. England's Swann snorted with delight when he had Gambhir leg-before to his third ball, padding up, and honked incredulously when he spun his last ball beyond Rahul Dravid's methodical defensive push for umpire Daryl Harper again to answer the appeal in his favour.

That is only two half-centuries in 18 Test innings for Dravid and India is counting.

"The first ball felt like I had a ping-pong ball in my hand," Swann said. "It was a terrible delivery. My mum could have hit it for four. Then it all went a bit crazy."

After his second wicket he ran "head spinning" towards cover to be engulfed in a bear hug by Andrew Flintoff. "I've known Fred since he was 11 and he was a big bruising lad then," Swann said. "But I wish he hadn't hugged me because he was dripping with sweat."

Swann had been told he was the first bowler in Test history to take two wickets in his first over. He was actually the second, Richard Johnson dismissing Mark Vermeulen and Stuart Carlisle in successive balls as Zimbabwe collapsed during Chester-le-Street's inaugural Test five years ago.

Virtually the first time Swann turned on the TV in India last month after his arrival for the one-day series his faith was bolstered that he could make an impression. He witnessed a fellow member of the off-spin fraternity, the Australian Jason Krejza, take 12 wickets on debut in Nagpur. "It gave me great hope," he said. "Finger spinners don't get much of a deal in world cricket. I was determined to enjoy it."

England could not have imagined that six India wickets would have fallen by the close of the second day when Steve Harmison limped off following four overs with the new ball after feeling a twinge behind the right knee — he returned later with his pace only marginally curtailed.

Before Swann's intervention James Anderson dismissed Virender Sehwag, exposing the technical flaw that England failed to take advantage of in the one-day series as Sehwag chopped on an 88mph delivery, among the quickest England bowled all day.

Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman added 61 with disturbing ease, Tendulkar bringing some perspective to Swann's day by slog-sweeping him for six. England's fielding was skittish. It looked ominous. Then England removed them in successive overs.

Both were return catches, reducing a crowd of 15,000 to mystified silence. Monty Panesar moved neatly to his right to hold Laxman — a catch that on a bad day he could have just as easily kneed into the umpire — and Andrew Flintoff, who had returned to hunt out Yuvraj Singh, found Tendulkar dead-batting his first ball straight back to him.

Yuvraj's dismissal set the seal on a perfect day. Flintoff and Harmison would throw money in the beer kitty if it guaranteed they could combine in the dismissal of a batsman not known for his false modesty.

They did just that, Harmison's fullish delivery producing an edge that was held low by Flintoff at second slip.

England extended their first innings into mid-afternoon, their last five wickets adding 87 in 38.4 overs, mostly against an all-spin attack as Mahendra Singh Dhoni opted not to take the second new ball. It was cagey stuff but they made more than they must have feared after Flintoff fell without adding to his overnight score, gingerly pushing to forward short-leg.

A conscientious half-century from Matt Prior, 53 not out from 102 balls, edged them forward, an innings possessing only one flourish, a legside hit against Harbhajan Singh. Otherwise it consisted of calm deflections.

Harbhajan is a man of conflicting images. He has the grace of a ballerina on the field but is mischievous off it, having scoffed that England had batted too conservatively on the first day.

Prior did not take the bait. This was his first Test innings since the tour of Sri Lanka last winter when he also proved he can play composed innings in adversity in the subcontinent; his subsequent omission owed everything to his leaden displays behind the stumps.

Anderson, who was badly dropped at slip by Dravid off Ishant Sharma when six, provided silky nightwatchman duties for 90 minutes before hauling to deep square-leg.

Only when Prior, on 47, was batting with the last man, Panesar, and showed no bold intent did Harbhajan seem to have a point about English conservatism.